Chapter 25 #3
I was tempted to roll my eyes at his behaviour but instead looked him over, seeking any sign of injury from the battles in the Wastes.
“How have you been? How is Vyr? I can’t find her anywhere.
Is Neve okay? Kael just tells me she’s not in a good mood, whatever that means.
How does it feel to have a whole pack of wolves camped on the doorstep of your garrison? ”
I tossed that last one in there just to irritate him a little.
He bore it well, shrugging it off. “I’ve never had anything against wolves. Bedded a few in my time. Very agile lovers.”
I could practically feel Chase and Morden gaping at him, or was it me they were looking at? I didn’t want to know. I was done discussing my sex life with my cousin and friend.
“I take it you’ve been fine then. What about Vyr?” I didn’t miss that sour edge his expression gained for a heartbeat before he brushed it away with a wave of his hand through the air.
“Currently visiting Rhynsgard Castle. The Winter King had plans to discuss with her in Kaeleron’s absence. I’m not sure they’re regarding the seelie incursion in the Wastes.”
“Oh.” I blinked and had to stop myself from reaching for his arm. “I’m sure she’ll be back soon and no doubt she’ll be complaining about court politics and everything will be the same as always.”
By the same I meant she wouldn’t have accepted whatever offer had been made to her.
Kaeleron had mentioned something about the Winter King’s brother in regards to his sister, and this time I wasn’t sure he had been merely teasing. He knew Jenavyr didn’t want to be married off to some suitor to strengthen the bonds between his court and another. He wouldn’t do that to her. I hoped.
Riordan hiked his stiff shoulders and stepped past me. “It’s nice to have you back.”
I turned and watched him go as he lifted his hand, casually saluting me.
“It’s nice to be back,” I said even as a heaviness settled inside me.
Riordan would fight for her, wouldn’t he?
If Kaeleron decided Jenavyr had to marry someone else.
He would fight for her.
I wanted to go after him and ask him that, but I planted my boots to the ground and let him walk away. It wasn’t my place. Riordan and Jenavyr were grown adults and could handle their own feelings without my interference, even if they were blind to how the other one felt.
But if Kaeleron did try to marry her off, I might have words to say about it.
“Saphira.” A bright, jovial female voice cut into my heavy thoughts and I sensed her bustling towards me.
“Naerwyn.” I turned towards the older fae female.
She wiped her hands on her dusty brown apron, her dark eyes lighting up. “I thought that was you. Oh, it is good to see you, my girl. Wherever have you been? And returning with many fine young males.”
The buxom baker cast an appreciative glance over Chase and Morden.
“My cousin, Chase, the alpha of our pack, and my protector, Morden.” I gestured to my cousin and then Morden, and Chase arched an eyebrow as he leaned towards Morden.
“She speaks fae now?”
“Universal translator spell,” I said.
His eyes lit up. “And how does one get this spell? It might be useful. If we can understand each other, we could work more easily with the fae and can integrate in the community here in Falkyr better.”
“You get it by being in the king’s good graces.” Morden smirked at me.
“You get it by simply asking.” I folded my arms over my chest, pulling my cream blouse tight across my shoulders. “I’ll ask him next time I see him.” I turned back to Naerwyn. “I don’t suppose you have any sticky buns left?”
She smiled knowingly. “When I heard from the brewer you were back in Falkyr, and one of the guards confirmed it, I set some aside as a gift to you and your people.”
She motioned for me to follow her to the bakery and I crossed the stretch of cobbles to the half-timber building, Chase and Morden falling in behind me. She disappeared inside and Chase moved to admire the glossy rich dark bread in the wooden baskets outside the shop.
“It pairs really well with bacon and eggs.” I picked up three loaves, enough to feed the pack a nice lunch if I could get my hands on some of the bacon and eggs I always had at the castle.
Naerwyn emerged again, a wicker basket looped over her arm, and took the bread from my hands, depositing it inside with the sticky buns.
Before she could cover the basket in a dark cloth, I snatched three of the buns, tossing one each to Chase and Morden, and then grimaced as I realised what I had done.
“I don’t have any coins to pay for this. ”
“The buns are a gift, and the bread will be charged to the castle, as King Kaeleron decreed.”
“As he decreed?” I frowned at her as she nodded.
“All purchases made by Saphira’s wolven are to be billed to the castle. He was quite clear about it.”
This was the first I was hearing of it.
A slow smile curled my lips.
Well, if he wanted the Harper wolves to bill the castle and didn’t care what we were making him pay for then I had a date with the seamstress and her beautiful dresses.
He was going to be in for a shock when he opened his ledger to see all the receipts from that particular store.
Although I doubted he would complain about it.
I remembered the heated looks he had given me when I had worn dresses from that store, how just his hungry gaze on me had set me aflame.
“There she goes again,” Morden muttered, snapping me out of it.
“Thank you.” I took the basket Naerwyn offered and hooked it over my arm. “It was good to see you again.”
She waved us off and we walked deeper into the town, several of the other store owners greeting me with warm smiles and kind words, and filling my basket with more goods.
A second basket joined it by the time we had reached the pond and the square, Morden dutifully taking it from me when an overenthusiastic grocer had offered it to me, and the weight had caught me off guard, almost making me tip forwards.
Chase gained a third and a fourth from the butcher, together with a whole suckling pig that Morden hefted onto his shoulder.
Gods, it felt good to be back as we made our way along the stores that faced the pond and I peered at the offerings on each colourful wooden market stall that had been set up on the grass.
“You seem at home here.” Chase’s softly spoken words caught me off guard and I looked up from inspecting a beautiful wooden spoon that had been elegantly carved so the handle looked like twisted vines and ivy. He smiled gently. “It’s a good thing. It’s nice to see you happy.”
He said it as if it had been a long time since he had seen me happy, and maybe it had been.
Maybe I had never been as happy as I was in this place, surrounded by so much life and light that was abundant here despite the grim name of this court that made it sound as if it would be all darkness and gloom.
“I am happy.” It felt wrong to admit that when I had just lost my parents.
It felt as if I should be miserable and unable to find joy in anything.
But I was alive, and I was free, and I couldn’t help this feeling beating inside me as I looked at Falkyr, at the people coming and going, and felt something in the pit of my soul.
I was happy here.
I was home.
I felt blessed to live here among these people, happy to be back in the Shadow Court, and pleased Kaeleron had loosened the restrictions.
More than I knew.
One of the big, gruff minotaurs I had often seen hauling barrels of wine off the carts in the castle loomed over me, casting a shadow on me.
My gaze tracked over his thickly muscled bare chest, the wooden spoon forgotten as I tilted my head right back so I could see his face.
He huffed, his broad snout flaring and the ring between his nostrils shifting with the force of his exhale. Morden moved a step closer to me.
The towering bull-headed male’s horns shone in the light as he scrubbed his neck, his air growing awkward.
His voice was as deep as thunder as he rumbled, “My daughter applies for approval. I might see her soon. I might meet my granddaughter at last.”
Kaeleron hadn’t just opened the gates to my pack.
He had opened it to others too, finally allowing his people to be reunited with their families.
“I’m so glad.” I reached for him, placing my hand on the worn leather cuff that encircled his forearm. “You must be so excited.”
He snorted again and shook his head a little, his ears flapping. “I hope she is allowed to visit… perhaps… to stay.”
I smiled up at him, aching to make that dream of his into a reality as I couldn’t imagine how he must have felt all these years, being in the Shadow Court and not seeing his family.
“I’m sure the king will approve of her moving to the Shadow Court.
” I hesitated and frowned at my hand on his forearm as I debated saying what was in my heart, fearing it might get back to Kaeleron somehow and he might not understand or might misinterpret the reason I had asked.
I pushed the words out. “Why did you never leave? Ships come and go daily. You might have been able to find secret passage on one.”
His head reared back and he snorted again. “Leave? This is my home. Kaeleron is my king. My—our—saviour.”
“Saviour?” I blinked up at him. “He saved you from something?”
“Death. Many of the non-fae here are not welcome elsewhere. Many were saved from other courts during battles between courts, and we were given work rather than being forced to fight for our masters. Honourable work.”
“But he closed the borders.”
“To his court,” he countered.
“I’m not following.”
“Aysha, my daughter, travels from the Stygian Isles. From Broken Ridge. Where she travelled on Shadow Court vessels with her mother and many others after a battle near King’s Crossing in the Dusk Court.”
My eyes widened. “The Stygian Isles. Prince Oberon gave you all refuge there.”